Faculty and Staff
Administration
Principal
Ms. Rita Standerfer holds a Master’s degree in Education with minors in both Liberal Arts and in Art and an additional focus on counseling. Her teaching experience has included programs from preschool to college. She has taught in traditional classrooms, combination and multi-grade level settings, special education, academically gifted programs, multi-cultural programs, and incarcerated teenage boys. This has included Catholic, private, charter and public schools. In these positions, she has written rubrics, assessment tools, and has helped establish numerous successful curriculum programs. As a college advisor and coordinator of adjunct faculty, she was able to tutor students and help them accomplish their goals of receiving a college degree so that they could begin their career dreams. Through all of these experiences, she has clearly witnessed that the greatest teachers are not the ones who so brilliantly present power points, tidy their rooms, or quote the masters, but rather, the ones who spend countless hours BECAUSE they love to teach.
Faculty
Mrs. Patty Pearson
Mrs. Patty Pearson has an undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has a master’s degree (M.Ed) and a doctorate (Ph.D.) from Arizona State University. She started teaching at St. Daniel the Prophet when her oldest child started kindergarten seven years ago. She enjoys teaching middle school math and science. She received a grant last year to attend the National Council of Math Teacher’s conference in Washington, DC. She is the coach for the St. Daniel the Prophet “mathletes” who participate in the annual, national “Math Counts” competition program.
Nicole Leo
Mrs. Leo is a graduate of St. Jerome and Bourgade Catholic High School here in the valley. S he attended Arizona State University where she majored in Early Childhood Education and minored in American Sign Language. Mrs. Leo is new to St. Daniel the Prophet family, but comes with seven years of experience in the Diocese and Public School Systems. Mrs. Leo resides in Surprise, AZ with her husband Robert, and dog Stella.
Katie Bulger
Miss Bulger holds a bachelors degree in communications from West Virginia University where she played basketball on a full athletic scholarship. She went on to obtain her masters in elementary education from Duquesne University. She is in her second year teaching and also in her second year at St. Daniel the Prophet.
Mrs. Mary Ann Gill
Mrs. Gill has a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Foreign Languages from Rosary Hill College in Buffalo, New York. Her Master of Arts is in Humanities and Leadership from New College of San Francisco. For the past thirty years, she has taught ESL (English as a Second Language) ranging from grades kindergarten through eighth. Currently, Ms. Gill is helping teach Kindergarten.
Ms. Tammy Shaffer
Staff
Tammy O�Riley - School Nurse
Tammy O’Riley is our beloved nurse. She holds a Bachelor of Science from California State University, Stanislaus and her Masters from California State University, Fresno. She has been working at St. Daniel’s since the fall of 2008. She started her nursing career more than twenty years ago in Emergency/Trauma and worked as an adjunct professor for San Jose State University. After receiving her Master’s degree, she worked as a Family Nurse Practitioner in both Internal Medicine and Family Practice. We are truly blessed to have such an experienced and professional nurse at Saint Daniel the Prophet.
Mr. Nathaniel Kreir - PE / Art
Mr. Nathaniel Kreir joined St. Daniel’s at the beginning of the 2009 school year to teach Art and PE. He graduated from Chaminade University of Honolulu, Hawaii with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies, and has also completed his teaching credential in Art from National University based in San Diego, California. Nathan is a practicing artist, interested in ceramics, as well as painting landscapes in oil and watercolor. He was an excellent athlete, both in high school and college where he excelled in a variety of sports including tennis and water polo. Nathan loves the Catholic faith and feels blessed to be a part of St. Daniel’s School.
Religion
The DAUGHTERS OF MARY, MOTHER OF THE CHURCH under the special patronage of the Blessed Mother is a Diocesan Religions Institute for women founded by the Most Rev. Teopisto V. Alberto, D.D. with Rev. Mo. Mary Therese L. Vicente, D.M. as collaborator on October 11, 1996 in the Archdiocese of Caceres, Philippines. It was founded primarily for Catechetical Ministry in public and private schools as well as apostolate among families, to afford better opportunities to parents to fulfill their duties towards the proper formation and training of their children. Secondarily, for other pastoral programs in the Diocese and Parish where it serves.
Lina Ibrahim - Music
My name is Lina Ibrahim. I am a music teacher at St. Daniel the Prophet Catholic School for the next year. I have a bachelor’s degree in Electric Engineering and a Certificate of Theology from the University of Technology, which is overseas in Iraq. I have worked in the canonical domain , especially music and choir and have played the piano/keyboard for around 17 years. Through these 17 years, I was trained in choi r and learned the principles of music theory and Religious hymns, which now I am so happy to pass on to the children and the church. I also teach computer principles to the children from grades K-8. I love music very much and I especially love to teach it. I am so happy to have joined this amazing team at St. Daniels and I look forward to a great year.